The Death House, An Urban Legend?
by amykay
Summary: Another belated Halloween story. Written for Robin's 2006 urban legend challenge. Wetsuit leads a few friends to a 'real' haunted house. New epilogue added.
1. Chapter 1

Leatherneck whistled as he walked down the hall towards the lunchroom. He was in an extraordinary good mood. As he entered the cafeteria, he scanned the tables for a place to sit. It was still a few minutes before lunch was due to be served so there were plenty of empty tables. He caught sight of Wetsuit reading a newspaper and his whistling grew louder as he headed in his direction.

"How is my favorite boneheaded Seal this morning?" Leatherneck asked as he took a seat.

Wetsuit looked out from behind the newspaper. "Man, I hate when you're especially cheery. Did you beat a few Greenshirts after breakfast?"

"Nah. At least nothing that will leave permanent scars," Leatherneck answered. He began to flip through the stack of newspapers in front of Wetsuit. "Did you bring enough to read? Wait a minute, what the hell is this drivel?" he asked as he grabbed one of the tabloids.

Wetsuit put down the section he was reading. "Seven Days Global News. There's some good stuff in that paper."

"Sure. Everything but news." Leatherneck chose a part of the paper and noticed that Wetsuit raised an eyebrow at his selection. "What?"

"Business? Are you checking on your portfolio?"

"As a matter of fact I am." Leatherneck resumed his whistling as he opened the paper.

Wetsuit shrugged and picked up the Seven Days Global News. "If you don't cut out that racket I'm going to…now here's a story."

"What?" Leatherneck asked feigning interest.

"Seventh body pulled from real haunted house," Wet Suit read out loud. "I've heard about this place. Supposedly no one has survived touring the whole house."

"You've heard about it because it's a popular urban legend. That story comes up every October."

Wetsuit shook his head. "No, this one is local. I can't remember who I was talking to, maybe one of my buddies in town, but he said he's actually been in the house. You have a choice how deep inside you can go. He only did the bare minimum and said he was scared out of his wits."

"Whatever," Leatherneck answered.

"I think we should find the house. See if the legend is true."

Leatherneck put down his paper. "I can guarantee you the legend is not true. But why don't you go, and send me a postcard from deep inside the spooky house."

Wetsuit smirked. "Oh, is the big mawine scared of the wittle scawy house?" he teased.

"Funny," Leatherneck replied and then looked up. "Hey, Jaye!"

"Hello, boys. Is that today's paper?" she asked. Wetsuit nodded so she asked, "Mind if I join you?"

"Have a seat," Wetsuit said as he indicated the empty spot next to him. He pushed the stack of papers in Lady Jaye's direction. He then turned his attention back to Leatherneck. "Bawk!" he said.

"Excuse me?" Leatherneck asked as Lady Jaye shot Wetsuit a questioning look.

"You heard me – bawk!"

"Are you supposed to be clucking like a chicken?" Leatherneck asked.

"Do I even want to know what set this off?" asked Lady Jaye.

"I'm just indicating that Leatherneck might be frightened by the idea of a real-life haunted house," Wetsuit answered.

"Is this the 'Death House'?" Lady Jaye asked excitedly.

"Yes! So you heard of it?" Wetsuit asked.

"Well, sure," Lady Jaye replied. "But it's always been one of those third generation type stories – the 'I heard from a friend who heard from a friend…' recaps. I didn't think it actually existed."

"Delusional boy is convinced he knows where it is," Leatherneck grumbled.

"Knows where what is?" Ace asked as walked over to the table. He sat down in the empty seat next to Leatherneck.

"The Death House," Wetsuit and Lady Jaye replied in unison.

"Oh yeah, I've heard of that," Ace replied. "I've got a buddy who said a friend of his went there last weekend."

Lady Jaye grinned as she held her hand out towards Ace. "Case in point," she said.

Wetsuit glanced at each of the three Joes sitting around the table. "I have a proposal. The four of us here each represent a different military branch. I know we always get into arguments over which one is the toughest so I propose a challenge. I will find this house, and whoever lasts the longest inside will be declared the winner."

Lady Jaye was the first to speak. "That's ridiculous."

"If you want out, there are plenty of your army buddies around to take your place," Wetsuit suggested.

"I'm in," Ace said without hesitation. "The Air Force is always catching flack, and I'm ready to prove I'm not afraid of a few ghosts."

Leatherneck shrugged, "I'm always ready to demonstrate that Wetsuit's an ass."

"You're really serious?" Lady Jaye asked. The three men nodded their heads. "Well them I'm in. I'll not only be proud to represent the Army, but womankind as well."


	2. Chapter 2

One week later, Lady Jaye was sitting in her room on base pretending to read one of her novels. It was a Saturday night, and she had agreed to meet up with the other Joes at 2000 hours to venture out to the haunted house. Wetsuit had tracked down the location of the house, which was in a desolate area about thirty miles from Headquarters

They had promised to keep their mission a secret from the other Joes, since they had wanted it to be a challenge for just the four of them. Flint was on the couch next to her, so she was trying to hide her jitters. She had hoped that she would be alone that evening before she left, but when he asked to come back to her room she couldn't come up with a plausible excuse to keep him away. She casually looked over at the clock.

"Do you have somewhere you need to be?" Flint asked. "Because that's the sixth time in the last three minutes you checked on the time."

Lady Jaye smiled. "Yeah, I have to meet up with Wetsuit and Leatherneck in a few minutes. We have a…thing to do."

"A thing? With those two? At this time of night?"

"Ace will be there too," Lady Jaye blurted out and quickly regretted it.

"Oh yeah, that makes me feel a lot better. Are you purposely looking for trouble?" Flint asked.

"It's just a stupid bet we made a week ago. I would tell you more, but I promised I wouldn't," Lady Jaye explained. She began to run his arm. "It's fine, really."

Flint stared at her, and Lady Jaye waited for the objection that was sure to come. However, he surprised her. "Are you doing something illegal?"

"No, not at all," she answered.

"Am I going to have to beat up one of these guys when this is over?"

Lady Jaye smiled. "Absolutely not."

Flint put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. "Okay, then go have fun on your little mystery assignment. Can you tell me what it's about once it's over?"

"I think so," Lady Jaye replied. She turned her head to kiss his cheek. She then looked at the clock one last time. "I need to go." She kissed him again and then rose from the couch. "Love you."

As she closed the door behind her, she tried to ignore the worried look on Flint's face.

Thirty minutes later the four were being jostled around in Wetsuit's car. They were on a dirt path that was just wide enough for the vehicle. However, every so often an errant branch would scrape along the side, or smack the windshield.

"This is doing wonders for my paint job," Wetsuit grumbled.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Leatherneck asked from the front passenger seat.

"It seems right. This path is pretty much how my buddy described it to me."

"Dude, we're in a state forest. There's probably dozens of paths similar to this," Ace observed from the back seat.

"How did you even find out where this place is?" Lady Jaye asked as she leaned forward on Leatherneck's chair.

"Right after our conversation, I called Tom, the guy I was telling you about, and he gave me a vague set of directions. He promised that he would send me a better set once he got the specifics. Sure enough, they came in the mail two days later."

"Wow! People still use regular mail?" Lady Jaye asked.

"I think he was trying to play up the spookiness. Look at the paper and the writing on it," Wetsuit said as he pointed towards the faded piece of parchment in Leatherneck's hands.

"This is why I'm questioning whether we are on the right track," Leatherneck replied.

Wetsuit suddenly slammed on the brakes. Through the car's headlights they could see a dilapidated chain linked fence with several signs that said 'No Trespassing'. "We're here!" Wet suit exclaimed as he put the car in park.

The four slowly got out of the car, went over to the trunk, and pulled out their respective knapsacks. Leatherneck was the first to take out a flashlight. The other three followed suit, and they began to scan the area.

"There's definitely a house on the other side," Leatherneck remarked as he shone his light through the fence.

"I don't see a gate, so it looks like we have to go over the top," Lady Jaye said.

The four easily scaled the fence and then dropped silently to the ground on the opposite side. As they approached the house they could see that it was as dilapidated as the fence. "This really doesn't look that impressive," Ace whispered.

"Good evening!" A ghostly voice rang out. "Have you come to tour my house?"

The four began to shine their flashlights throughout the grounds until they came to rest on a figure standing on the porch. His face was completely painted white, with thick black circles around his eyes. His white hair stuck out in all directions. He wore a black and white pin stripe suit that had definitely seen better days.

"He looks like Beetlejuice," Wetsuit whispered to Leatherneck. He then cleared his throat and spoke. "Yes, we would like to tour your home."

"Very well. I love having visitors," the man walked towards the door and opened it. "Feel free to go wherever you want. However, I must warn you some rooms contain more dangers than others."

The four Joes looked at each other. They gave each other a silent 'shall we go?' before agreeing to proceed. Wetsuit led the group into the house.

"One last warning," the man said as they walked past him and into the house. "You can look, but don't touch the valuables." He then closed the door behind them.


	3. Chapter 3

The house was pitch black, except for the lights coming from the four flashlights. Within seconds of the door closing, a dim red light began to shine which was enough to give the room an eerie glow. At the same time, the four flashlights went dead. Somewhere off in the distance, a piano began to play.

"This is definitely creepy," Lady Jaye said. She turned around and tried the door handle behind her. It was locked.

"Leaving already?" Ace teased.

"No, I'm just being aware of my surroundings," Lady Jaye said casually.

"So what's the game plan?" Leatherneck asked. "Do we split up or stay together as a group?"

"I think we should stick together for now. Whoever doesn't want to go on can come back to this door. Maybe if you knock and scream real loud, Beetlejuice will let you out," Wetsuit answered.

The other three nodded and began to wander around the room. They each took care not to touch any of the furnishings, as the caretaker had warned. Leatherneck made a slow pass around the perimeter of the room. "I count eight doors. Any suggestions as to which one to pick?"

Each Joe randomly picked a different door. "It figures," Wetsuit said with a laugh.

"Why don't we just go with the one directly opposite the front door?" Leatherneck suggested.

"What makes that door special?" Wetsuit asked.

"Oh no, you don't," Lady Jaye said as she stepped between the marine and the Seal. "The one thing I refuse to deal with tonight is your constant bickering. That door is fine. Wetsuit you can choose the next one."

The three lined up behind Leatherneck as he slowly opened the door. They were hit with a gust of ice-cold air. "Still think this is a good idea?" Wetsuit grumbled to Lady Jaye. He went to take a step back but an invisible force sucked him in. He stumbled into the next room. He looked at Lady Jaye and Leatherneck and then turned around quickly. "Where's Ace?"

"I don't know. Wasn't he right behind you?" Lady Jaye asked as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"I thought so," Wetsuit answered. He grabbed the door handle to open it, but it wouldn't turn. "It locked behind us," Wetsuit announced. "I guess Ace is still on the other side."

"I'm not surprised that the flyboy was the first to go," Leatherneck replied smugly. He put his hands on his arms and began to vigorously rub up and down. "They could turn down the AC in here."

The three Joes began to scan the room. The room was set up almost identical to the first room. However, this room was bathed in a blue light and the temperature seemed to be close to freezing. In addition to the door that was locked behind them, there were three other doors to choose from.

"Okay, Wetsuit it's your turn," Lady Jaye said as she pointed to the doors.

"Maybe we should just stick to one direction," Wetsuit said as he walked towards the door opposite the one they came in.

Leatherneck put his pack down, opened the flap and began to rummage inside. He then pulled out a black marker. "We should also mark our path. Down arrow for the way we came in, and an up arrow for the way we left. This way if Ace comes in here, he'll know which way we went."

"That's assuming the space cadet can figure out your system," Wetsuit teased.

Leatherneck made the markings by the door and then the three went through the next door. A pitch-black room greeted them.


	4. Chapter 4

Ace stood alone in a green room. The air was overly humid, and all of the furnishings had a thin layer of moisture on it. Ace ran his hand through his hair, and felt the dampness beginning to collect on his head. "Hey guys!" he called out. "Where did you go?" He half expected a ghostly figure to answer him, but there was only silence from the room.

He had been right behind Wetsuit as they traveled to the next room. Just before Ace stepped through the door his knee banged up against a small table. A picture frame had knocked over, and he picked it up to right it. He then looked up, saw that he was in this green room and the other Joes were gone.

Ace walked towards the door closest to him. He intended to open it just to look inside and see if the Joes were there. However, once the door was open and he stuck his head inside, he felt as if an invisible hand pushed his back into the next room. The door slammed shut behind him.

"Well that wasn't cool," he said. He had entered into a room that was dimly lit by a single red lamp in the corner. For a moment he thought he might have arrived back at the beginning, however he realized he was mistaken. The rooms were similar, but there were subtle differences.

The Joes were obviously not here, so he tried the door to get back into the green room. It was locked. He turned around and saw there was one other door.

As he walked towards it, he felt something brush against his head. He batted at it, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a small flying black object. He quickly realized it was a bat, and then several others began to fly around his head. "Really not cool!" he announced. He raced to the door on the opposite side and went through quickly.

Meanwhile, Leatherneck, Wetsuit and Lady Jaye fumbled around in the darkness. They had each tried their flashlights, but discovered that they were still dead. Wetsuit would never admit it this early into the game, but he was starting to get a little bit spooked. He didn't like that all three flashlights were rendered useless.

He knew that Leatherneck was a few feet off to his left, and Lady Jaye was to his right. They were trying to map out the room by touch alone. Wetsuit's hand had already brushed across a few unpleasant things, and he was glad that he couldn't actually see what was in the room with them. He knew Lady Jaye had brushed against some similar objects based on the groans he heard her make.

"Door!" Leatherneck announced.

"Thank God," Lady Jaye said. "Oh sh…" she began but a crash cut off the rest of the obscenity.

"Jaye?" Wetsuit called out but was met with silence. "Leatherhead I think we have a problem."

"I might be temporarily blind, but I'm not deaf," Leatherneck grumbled. "Don't move. I'm walking back towards you."

Wetsuit put his hand out to make sure the marine didn't crash into him. As soon as he felt Leatherneck's arm, he grabbed a hold of his shirt, and the two began to walk towards Lady Jaye. Wetsuit went several steps to his right, well past the point he should have found Lady Jaye. He called out her name again, but there was still no response.

"Where the hell did she go?" Leatherneck asked.


	5. Chapter 5

Lady Jaye had to shield her eyes against the sudden brightness. The room seemed extraordinary bright and her eyes were taking a long time to adjust. She wasn't sure if that was because it was such a drastic difference from the dark room she just left, or if the room was brighter than normal.

She wasn't even sure how she had arrived at her new location. Moments ago she was moving along the darkened wall, looking for a way out, with Wetsuit only a few feet away from her. Her hand had brushed against something prickly and she jerked it away. Unfortunately, she hit some sort of object that had fallen to the ground and apparently shattered. The next thing she knew she was in the new room alone.

She was starting to get a headache from the bright lights. She could only make out vague shapes in the room, since her eyes were having a hard time focusing. She looked to her left and right, and saw a door just past her left shoulder. She took a moment to take the knapsack off her back to bring out a marker. She decided to keep going with Leatherneck's system. This room wouldn't have a down arrow, but she made sure to mark the up.

She passed through the door into a room that was a lot easier on her eyes. This one looked liked a typical living room, at least those found in older style houses. There was a couch, two oversized chairs, a desk and a bookcase. There was also a choice of two doors out of the room.

She had no intention of going back the way she came, but she tried the door handle behind her just for the sake of research. It came as no surprise to find the door locked. She marked a down arrow on the door and then walked towards the couch. She sat down, put her pack on her lap, and then reached in it for one of the bottles of water.

She drank about a quarter of the bottle and then leaned back on the couch. She was suddenly exhausted. She looked at her watch and frowned. She knew they had arrived at the house at a little after 2030, but her watch claimed that it was only 2038. She stared at it for a few moments before she realized that it had stopped. She then wondered if there was some sort of magnetic field in the house that was killing all of their battery-operated equipment.

Her arms fell limply to her side and her eyes closed until her head bobbed forward and she was jerked awake. She knew it was stupid to fall asleep in this house, but she was too tired to care. She adjusted her position so that she was better able to rest her head. She was just going to take a short nap. Once she slept a little bit she would be able to think more clearly.

Ace had to admit that he was slightly concerned. He had walked into a room that was blazing hot. He couldn't identify where exactly the source was located because it felt like every object in the room was radiating heat. The sweat was pouring off of him as he looked for a way out of the room.

There was only a single door – the one he entered through. It had locked behind him, so he desperately searched for another exit. After another few moments, the room began to spin. He wondered just how hot it was in the room, and how much longer he could survive the intense heat.

He went back to the door and began to vigorously shake the door handle. It barely even moved in his hand, so he began to pound on the door. "Wetsuit! Leatherneck! Lady Jaye! Can anyone hear me?"

A knock on the opposite side of the door answered his question. He took a step back as the handle turned and the door slowly opened towards him. He grabbed a hold of the door. "Don't come in here it's a dead end!" he yelled as he quickly walked back through the door.

"Ace! What happened to you? And where's Lady Jaye?" an agitated Flint asked.

"Flint? What the hell are you doing here?" Ace asked as he bent over to breathe in the cooler air.

"I knew you guys were up to something stupid, so I tracked you down."

"How?" Ace asked.

"It's really not important. Where is Lady Jaye?" Flint asked again.

"I don't know," Ace answered and he was rewarded with a shove up against the door. He let out a sharp breath of pain when the doorknob connected with his kidney.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Flint said through gritted teeth.

"What's not to understand? I haven't seen her, Leatherneck or Wetsuit since we first entered this house. The three of us walked through one door, and I somehow got separated from them." Ace looked up into the blazing anger of Flint's eyes however, he was distracted by the room's surroundings. Ace pushed Flint off of him and began stumbling around. "This isn't the room I was just in. I came out the same door, so how come I'm in a different room?"

"There's something very screwed up about the layout of this house," Flint said.

Ace stared Flint down. "How do I know you're really you?"

Flint smiled. "Do I look like someone else?"

"It could be a trick of the house. And you didn't answer the question as to how you found us."

Flint threw his hands up in the air. "You're right, I had no idea where you yahoos disappeared to. Jaye told me you were all going on a super secret mission, and I didn't like it from the start. Once she left, I had second thoughts about letting her go so I tried to chase you down. You had already left by that point, but I found a set of directions lying around. Once I saw they were to this house, I just knew you all would be here. So I asked Roadblock to come with me, and here I am."

"What happened to Roadblock?" Ace asked.

"I guess the same thing that happened to you. We both walked through one of the doors, but he disappeared."

"We've got to get out of here," Ace remarked.

"I agree. But I'm not leaving here without Lady Jaye. I'd like to find Roadblock as well, since he is my responsibility. However, I'm not nearly as attached to Wetsuit and Leatherneck… or you, for that matter."

"Thanks, you're a real pal," Ace said.


	6. Chapter 6

"I don't know how I let you talk me into this," Wetsuit said as he tugged on the rope around his waist.

"Hey, I already lost two men tonight and I'm not going to lose a third," Leatherneck replied as he stopped in front of yet another door. "This one?" he asked.

"Sure," Wetsuit said. "Why are you assuming I'm the one who's going to get lost and not the other way around?"

Leatherneck drew an up arrow on the door and then opened it. "Call it a hunch."

The two walked into the room and looked around. It appeared to be a long-ago abandoned bedroom. There was a full-sized canopy bed in the middle, and a dresser with a mirror attached against one of the walls. Wetsuit turned to Leatherneck. "Is it just me or is this place not scary? Confusing? Yes. Frustrating? Yes. Odd? You bet. But scary? Not really."

"Why don't we just chalk it up in the 'good news' column and leave it at that," Leatherneck replied as he walked towards the mirror. He did a double take and then called Wetsuit over.

Wetsuit looked into the mirror. "Is that Roadblock? How did he get here? And what the hell is he doing?" Roadblock appeared to be in another room on the other side of the two-way mirror. He was hunched over and his attention was riveted to a spot on the floor.

"Those are all good questions. If we can get to him I'll be sure to ask him," Leatherneck answered. He raised his hand in a fist and attempted to knock on the mirror. However, the mirror wasn't solid, and as soon as his knuckles hit, he felt a cold rush of an air pulling him towards the mirror. The next moment he was on his knees in another room. Leatherneck quickly looked to his left and saw that Wetsuit was still by his side. "You see.? This is why we needed the rope."

"I knew you would be the one to…" Wetsuit began but was silenced by Roadblock.

"Both of you – shut it," Roadblock said in a loud whisper. His eyes never left the floor.

Wetsuit and Leatherneck quietly walked over to their friend. "What's going on?" Leatherneck asked.

"Snakes," Roadblock answered, "and not the Cobra kind. I think they somehow materialize from under the floorboards."

Wetsuit nodded as he joined in the vigil. "It wouldn't be the strangest thing we encountered tonight. So, RB, how did you end up here?"

Roadblock kept his attention on the floor. "Flint was worried about Jaye and asked me to come along to help bail you guys out. We got into the house with no problem, but soon after we were separated. I've been wandering through ever since."

"And now you're fascinated by ghost snakes?" Leatherneck asked.

Roadblock grinned. "I'm just trying to figure out if these things are real, or if I'm losing my mind."

"Well, I think that answers your question," Wetsuit said as he pointed to a snake that appeared to materialize in the middle in the floor. It slithered along the floor, then stopped, shuddered and split in two. Each new snake was just as large as the original one. The process was then repeated, and soon the Joes were staring at four snakes.

"So Roadblock have you had enough of the snake ghost lesson?" Leatherneck asked as he began to slowly back up from the rapidly multiplying snakes.

"I'm good," Roadblock answered.

"Which door?" Wetsuit asked as he too hurried away from the snakes.

"I came through that one," Roadblock said as he pointed to one.

"So this one will work," Leatherneck said as he reached for the knob. He held the door open and ushered the two Joes through.


	7. Chapter 7

Lady Jaye woke with a start when she felt a cold clammy hand brush against her cheek. She sat up quickly and let out a gasp when she saw the apparition floating in front of her. It appeared to be a woman. The ghost tilted her head from side to side as it examined Lady Jaye. Then without warning, it let out a blood-curdling scream.

Lady Jaye's hands shot to her ears as she tried to drown out the noise. The apparition had floated back enough to allow her to rise from the couch without touching it. She scooted down the length of the sofa, away from the ghost lady and towards one of the doors. She turned the knob, which was locked. Her heart stopped as she considered being locked in the room with the apparition.

Lady Jaye's heart was pounding so loud she could hear it in her head. The rapid thumping helped drown out the anguished woman's screams. Lady Jaye tried to take a few deep breaths to calm herself down. As her head cleared a little, she realized that she was trying the door she had used to enter the room. She raced to the opposite side and thankfully the door opened.

"Lady Jaye!" She looked up at the sound of her name and let out a cry of relief.

"Flint!" she yelled out as she jumped into his arms.

He hugged her tight. "Are you okay? You're shaking"

"I saw a ghost," Lady Jaye stuttered. "Thank God you're here. How did you find us?"

"I had a bad feeling when you left. I tried to ignore it, but it kept nagging at me. Using my impeccable investigative skills, I was able to track you down. My car is out front parked just behind Wetsuit," Flint explained.

"So did you meet Beetlejuice?" Lady Jaye asked.

"No. I only saw a woman that was the spitting image of Elvira. She was the one that let us in."

"Us?" Lady Jaye asked.

"Yeah, Roadblock came with me," Flint explained.

Ace cleared loudly cleared his throat. "I hate to break up this little romantic moment but we should probably work on getting out of here."

"Ace! It's good to see you again," Lady Jaye said as she pulled away from Flint, but she kept a tight hold of his hand. "Any idea where the exit is?"

"No clue. I've just been wandering around trying different doors, to see where it takes me," Ace answered.

"You know what this house reminds me of?" Lady Jaye asked the other two. "One of those 'Choose your Adventure' stories."

"Oh, man, I hated those books," Ace replied. "I would always end up dead or locked in a dungeon or some other equally devastating fate."

"I always found my way out," Lady Jaye bragged.

"Well, okay then, Nancy Drew, what's the plan to get out of here?" Ace asked.

Lady Jaye paused for a moment to think. She took a quick glance around the room. She had been so excited to see Flint that she didn't even bother to give the layout of this particular room an once-over. It was another one of the 'normal' rooms. She would have classified it as the library, as one wall was completely hidden by a floor to ceiling bookcase. There was also a small round table a few feet in front of the bookcase, with two small chairs around it.

As she glanced at the rows of book, she wondered if maybe there was a 'Choose Your Adventure' title among the hundreds of books stacked. She let go of Flint's hand and began to walk towards the bookcase to see what was on the shelves, but stopped in front of one of the three doors in the room. "Have either one of you come across any marked doors?" Lady Jaye asked.

"I don't remember seeing any," Flint answered. "What are they marked with?"

"Leatherneck started a system where he would draw a down arrow over any door we used to walk into a room, and an up arrow for any door we exited."

"I definitely haven't seen any arrows," Ace said. "However, I don't know how useful that system is. I've come across one door that changed rooms on me. It was a room filled with bats when I left. Unfortunately the next door I chose led to a dead end. I was locked in until Flint opened the same door for me. I walked out into a completely different room."

"So basically there is no rhyme or reason to the layout of this house," Lady Jaye said with a sigh. "What do you think Flint? Should we just keep going and hope we stumble upon the exit?"

"I'm not sure what other options we have. I doubt we'll get out if we just hang around here," Flint answered.

"But at least this room is safe," countered Ace. "We don't want to get stuck in a dead-end like I did."

Lady Jaye continued walking towards the bookcase. She began to scan the titles. "Maybe there's an answer somewhere in here." Most of the books had names she didn't recognize. One book had a thick layer of dust on it and she blew on it. Almost immediately the bookcase began to shake. A low rumble started below her feet. She watched, mesmerized, as the books began to fall off the shelf towards her.

Flint grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the bookcase. The rumbling grew to a roar, and the whole bookcase began to move slowly towards them.

"Well there goes the safe room idea," Ace yelled out as he began to back up away from the moving wall.

"Pick a door!" Flint ordered.

Ace went towards the door closest to him but Lady Jaye called out to him. "Ace, wait! Give me your hand. We have to try and stick together." She grabbed Flint's hand with her left, and reached her right out to Ace. He nodded and grabbed her hand.


	8. Chapter 8

The three walked through one door at the same time Wetsuit, Leatherneck and Roadblock entered through the opposite door.

"Wow! What are the odds?" Ace asked as he walked over to clap his friends on their back. "It's good to see you guys!"

"Same here," Wetsuit said. "I'm glad to see everyone is still in one piece."

"Now that we're all together again I think we need to make a concentrated effort to get out of here," Lady Jaye suggested.

"Yeah because up until this point we've only been pretending to look for the exit," Leatherneck said sarcastically.

"I just want to make sure we weren't still bound by the bet," Lady Jaye said.

"What bet?" Flint and Roadblock asked simultaneously.

Lady Jaye rolled her eyes and pointed her thumb at the Seal. "When Wetsuit brought up the idea of finding this house, he had the idea that we could all represent our particular military branch. The one who stayed in here the longest would be considered the winner, and his or her branch would get an edge in the never-ending who's tougher debate."

Flint gaped at Lady Jaye. "That's why you're here?"

She bowed her head. "Kind of. And I thought it might be fun."

"Unbelievable," Flint said. "This is the last time I come to your rescue after you decide to do something stupid."

"Hey, I didn't ask for you to come out here!" Lady Jaye countered.

Leatherneck leaned over to whisper to Wetsuit. "I'm going back to deal with the ghost snakes. It'll be far less painful than watching this spat play out."

"I'm right behind you," Wetsuit whispered in return. "Wait a minute. Flint, how did you find this house?"

Flint turned his attention from Lady Jaye to Wetsuit. "Somebody left a set of directions behind in the rec room. I found them when I was scouring the base for you."

"That's impossible. There was only one set - the ones that Tom sent me. We had it in the car with us."

"There obviously must be another one because I wouldn't have gotten here without it," Flint said.

"Maybe this is a farfetched idea, but I think we were set-up and led here," Lady Jaye said. "Wetsuit, you were saying earlier in the car that you thought the letter seemed a bit odd. Somebody knew we were interested in this house, and made sure that as many of us found it."

"You think one of the Joes is just putting us on?" Leatherneck asked.

"No," Lady Jaye said shaking her head. "This house is way beyond the scope of a simple prank. Based on what I've seen tonight I think some other-worldly force is behind it."

The other Joes began to animatedly discuss Lady Jaye's suggestion until Roadblock whistled them quiet. "I know we all have a lot to figure out about tonight, but I suggest we do it anywhere but inside this house. We still need to find the way out."

"Roadblock's right," Leatherneck said. "And I think we've been going about this all wrong. Most of the time we've been using conventional exits like the doors to get from one room or another. Every so often one of us had accidentally stumbled upon an unconventional portal. I think one of those will get us back to main room. In one room, Wetsuit and I found a mirror that wasn't truly a mirror. I touched it and we were sent to an adjacent room. I think we need to start looking for other such transports. It could be behind paintings, or through windows or…"

"Under a rug in the middle of the room?" Ace asked as he pointed to the area rug under their feet.

They all stepped off of it, and Roadblock pulled it up. Underneath it was a door that appeared to lead straight through the floor. The six Joes stared at it for several moments.

"Could this really be the exit?" Flint asked.

"I don't know, but I've got a bad feeling about it," Lady Jaye answered.

"I do too," Wetsuit said. "However, I feel like whatever is on the other side of that door has got to be better than an endless maze through this house."

"Okay, so we'll go on through?" Leatherneck said as he approached the door.

"Wait!" Lady Jaye called out. She grabbed Flint's hand and pulled him to one corner of the room. "I'm sorry I got you into this," she said softly.

"You know I would do anything for you," Flint said in a near-whisper as he caressed her cheek. Lady Jaye smiled and then looked over at the other four Joes in the room. They immediately turned around and pretended to be enthralled by the rug Roadblock had pulled up.

"I don't want us to die in here," Lady Jaye admitted and then hugged Flint. He wrapped his arms around her back and held her tight.

"Hey, we made it this far, and we'll make it the rest of the way. Soon this will be nothing but a bad dream."

Lady Jaye smiled again. She stood up on her tiptoes and gave Flint a kiss. He responded, and they stayed in the corner for several seconds, oblivious to the others in the room. Reluctantly Flint pulled away. "I think the guys have spent enough time checking out that rug."

Lady Jaye nodded and the two separated. They walked over to the others hand in hand. "So, ready to go?" Flint casually asked.

"I guess so. Unless anyone else wants to take the time for a passionate good-bye kiss. Leatherneck, Wetsuit?" Ace teased.

"Funny," Wetsuit said as he reached for the doorknob. A roar greeted the six of them as they landed hard on the floor. Wetsuit looked up and began to curse, "Oh sh…" However, darkness overwhelmed him and he blacked out before he could finish.


	9. Chapter 9

The next afternoon.

Duke was sitting at his desk, a very unhappy man. He looked up as the door opened and Beachhead entered his office. "Any word?" Duke asked.

"No. Some guys remember seeing Leatherneck and the others leaving, but no one knows where they went. They do know, though, that Flint and Roadblock left about a half hour later."

"Thanks for the update. I'll make a few calls, and I'll let you know if I find them," Duke said and watched Beachhead leave. He sighed. It really wasn't unusual for a small group to leave base and get into some late night troublemaking. However, they had almost always arrived back to base by morning, or at the worse, called asking for bail money.

With the exception of Ace, the missing Joes weren't the typical partiers. And the fact that Flint was among the group was doubly puzzling. Duke thought that if Flint were ever to disappear for the evening it would be with Lady Jaye. But she had left with Wetsuit, Leatherneck and Ace, and Flint left thirty minutes later with Roadblock.

Maybe they had a fight, and she went off in a huff with the other three. Flint found out about it later, and chased after them with Roadblock at his side as back up, Duke thought. It was a plausible theory, but it wouldn't explain why they were still missing.

A knock on the door jarred Duke from his thoughts. Dial-Tone entered the room with a stack of letters. "Mail call," he announced.

"Just throw it on my desk," Duke said. Dial-Tone did so, and one particular envelope caught the Top's eye. The envelope was faded and looked brittle. Duke carefully picked it up. The envelope had his real name, Sergeant Conrad Hauser, on it but no return address. Intrigued, he opened it to find a single sheet of old parchment inside. On the top it said, "Follow the words below to find the House of Death."

"Is this a joke?" Duke asked.

"Hey that's the letter Flint had last night," Dial-tone said excitedly.

"Really?" Duke asked. "How do you know that?"

"Because he came into the computer room to show Mainframe and myself. He asked us if we had ever heard anything about this house. Mainframe told him it was a popular urban legend, but there was nothing to indicate it was a real house."

Duke looked down at the letter and frowned. "Do me a favor and run a check on these directions to see if they lead anywhere."

"Do you really think Flint went to find this house?" Dial-tone asked.

Duke shrugged. "I've got six missing Joes and this is the best lead I have. If we can confirm that there is something at the end of this trail, I'm going to put a team together to investigate. If nothing else, this sounds like a Cobra trap."

Dial-tone nodded and left the room. Duke frowned at the paper. "Haunted house my left knee," he muttered. He placed the paper down and picked up one of the other folders on his desk. It was going to take Dial-tone a few minutes, so he should at least work on something.

However, after a few moments his attention was drawn again to the paper. He picked it up and stood from his desk. He suddenly felt the intense desire to put a team together to check out the house. It was after all, just an urban legend.


	10. Chapter 10

Lady Jaye woke up from a strange, unsettling dream. However, the contents of the dream were quickly forgotten as she realized three things. One – she was lying in a pile of leaves. Two – she had a pounding headache. And three – she had no memory of how she had arrived at her current location.

She slowly rose to her feet and began to scout out the area. As she looked through the rather sparse forest, she was hit with a series of images, but all were too fleeting to get a grasp on. She tried desperately to remember why she would be alone in the forest. Was it a mission gone bad? A practical joke by one of the Joes? Or the unfortunate ending to a night of drinking?

The pounding of her head seemed to indicate option three was the most likely. However, she never had a hangover so bad that she couldn't even remember the start of the night. Further soul searching was put on hold when she heard a group of voices approaching her.

A quick pat down of her civilian clothes confirmed the fact that she was unarmed. She came to the conclusion that her only option was to take cover, but her body was still slow in responding. She eventually stumbled over to one of the larger trees in her areas, and hid herself as best as she could.

"Haven't we been through this area already?" A man's voice asked.

A second man sighed. "I don't know. It's all starting to look alike."

It took Lady Jaye a few moments to realize that she recognized the voices. "Duke? Beachhead?" she asked as she walked out from behind her hiding spot.

"Lady Jaye!" Duke cried out as he ran to her side. "What happened? Where are the others?"

"Others?" Lady Jaye asked. A knot began to form in her stomach.

"Yeah," Beachhead answered. "The other yahoos that decided to go on this ridiculous stunt."

Lady Jaye looked around blankly, half-expecting to see her friends appear out of nowhere. "I don't know. I woke up alone."

Duke's face took on a look of concern. He exchanged a worried look with Beachhead. "Lady Jaye, what happened?"

"I don't know," she said again. She brought her hand to her head as it began to pound even harder. "Who was with me?"

"For starters, Flint and Roadblock. They apparently came to find you, Wetsuit, Leatherneck and Ace. That was a day and a half ago," Duke said.

The pounding in Lady Jaye's head intensified as she was hit was a wave of vertigo. She put her hand out to steady herself, but there was nothing to grab on to. She would have hit the ground if not for Beachead's reflexes.

He lowered her to the ground and she closed her eyes. Partly to steady herself, but also to give herself a moment to think. She had no recollection of leaving the base, and no memory of the last thirty six hours. But the worst part was that her friends were missing, and she had no idea what happened to any of them.

"Lady Jaye," Beachhead began, but he was stopped by Duke.

"No, Beach, questions can wait. She needs to be checked out by a doctor. Get her a transport back to the base and have Lifeline examine her. We'll continue the search."

/o/

It was well after dark when Duke returned to Headquarters. He was tired and frustrated. Another full day of combing through the woods yielded no signs of the missing Joes. He pulled a piece of old parchment from his pocket and looked at it. It was the only lead they had, and while originally he thought it was nothing more than a wild goose chase, finding Lady Jaye had added some validity.

He returned the parchment to his pocket as he walked into the infirmary. Lifeline was making notes in a chart but looked up at him as soon as he entered. "How's Lady Jaye?" Duke asked.

"I don't know," Lifeline answered with an open amount of frustration. "She's exhibiting classic symptoms of a brain injury, but an exam and an MRI show no obvious source. I also ran an initial tox screen, and that came back as negative. I might know more after a few more tests, but for now I'm stumped.

"She has no memory of the last two days, plus other chunks of time from the last week or so are missing as well. Her brain was definitely affected in some way, but the rest of her body seems, for the most part injury free."

Duke nodded. Very little of it was good news, but he didn't need to tell Lifeline that. "Where is she now?"

Lifeline pointed to one of the areas curtained off. "Hopefully, sleeping. She was very agitated when she arrived. I gave her a mild sedative after my exam to calm her down."

"Can I talk to her?" Duke asked.

"Normally, I'd say no. But since she's our best lead to find Flint and the others, I'm going to allow it. But Duke, if you're not getting anywhere with her, don't push it."

"Okay," Duke answered. He walked over to the curtain and pulled it aside. It turned out Lady Jaye was not sleeping and her gaze met his.

"Did you find anything?" Lady Jaye asked.

Duke shook his head. "I'm really hoping that you've had some return of your memory."

Lady Jaye dropped her eyes to the bed. "Duke, I've been racking my brain for the last few hours. All I've got is a series of split-second images that I can't hold on to long enough to make sense of them. It's like when you first wake up from a deep sleep knowing you had a dream, but you can't remember what it was. Then the more you try to remember the farther out of reach the dream gets."

Duke reached back into his pocket and pulled out the parchment. "Maybe this will help jog your memory." He handed her the advertisement of the Death House, and he watched as a look of fear washed over her face. "Lady Jaye, what happened?"

Her expression changed back to confusion as she continued to look at the parchment. "I don't know," she whispered.

"Alison, listen to me," Duke said in a softened tone. "At this point, I don't care what happened, or who was responsible, or whatever repercussions might come from it. I just want to know where my guys are."

Lady Jaye looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Flint is one of the men missing. Do you really think that I would put his life in danger just to cover up any wrong doing on my part?"

"No, of course not," Duke replied. He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "Try and take it easy, but call me if you remember anything."

She nodded and rolled over on to her side. Duke stayed a moment longer watching her, and then left the area. Once again he walked over to the medic. "Hey, Life, I have a question for you."

"Okay," Lifeline answered. He was going through a drawer of vials, occasionally picking up a bottle to examine it. "I want to make sure I have enough supplies in case the others need it," he explained.

Duke nodded. He had suspended the search for the night. There was something funny about the woods, and he didn't need more men disappearing in the dark. However he knew Lifeline, like many of the other Joes, was antsy for word on his teammates. If the medic found solace in reordering his medicine cabinet, Duke was not going to stop him.

Duke gave a glance back to where Lady Jaye was spending the night. "Have you dealt with post-traumatic stress patients before?" he asked.

"I've had some experience. I won't say I'm an expert, though." Lifeline looked over Duke's shoulder. "You're wondering if Lady Jaye is suffering from PTSD?

"Yes," Duke admitted with a sigh. "I'm starting to think something really bad happen to the Joes in that forest.

"It's a high possibility. Especially since Flint was involved. You know how close they are. If she was a witness to a horrific event, her mind could have just shut down to protect her. That's part of the reason why I want to keep her here overnight. I have a feeling that if she's suppressing bad memories, they might begin to work their way out while she's sleeping."

"Do you need a hand in here?" Duke asked.

Lifeline shook his head. "Scarlett volunteered to sit with her tonight. I'm going to go lay down during that time and come back in a few hours to relieve Scarlett.

"Okay. Let me know if anything develops," Duke said. As he walked out of the infirmary, he doubted he would be getting much sleep that night.

/o/

Lady Jaye was wandering through a cold, dark room. She was desperate to find the others. She couldn't remember how they got separated, but she knew if she kept walking through the different rooms of the house, she would find them.

Her hand finally rested on the door handle, but she hesitated. Lady Jaye could hear the voice of a woman coming from the other side of the door. "It's the ghost lady," her subconscious told her.

Lady Jaye backed away from the door. She would just have to find another way. But then she was hit with a thought – Flint was in the room, and he was in trouble.

"But, no that can't be. He's back on base. He doesn't know about this house," Lady Jaye said to the empty room.

"That's where you're wrong," the ghost lady cried out. "He's with me. He'll always be with me."

Lady Jaye woke with a start in her bed. Once again, she was disoriented, but she soon regained her bearings. She was in the infirmary, at base.

"Alison? Are you okay?" Scarlett asked as she rose from the chair a few feet from Lady Jaye's bed.

"No," Lady Jaye cried out with a sob. "I don't think I'm ever going to be okay."


End file.
